After preliminary results on Tuesday showed the Islamists winning 43% of the Tunisian vote in the Arab Spring's first free elections, many wonder what's next. Sharia law? Polygamy? An end to women's rights?
Not likely, many say.
"I know Ennahda, both the leadership and the rank and file very well and wholesale jerseys from china they have truly come a long way," said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. "Of course they are not newborn democrats. But I think they mean it when they say … that they will not impose a Taliban-like regime."
Sunday's vote was Tunisia's first free election for candidates to a 217cheap nhl jerseys-member assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government.
The Ennahda party has reached out to secular parties to form a coalition. Analysts say this type of coalition is unusual in the Arab world where Islamists have been persecuted by regimes and usually treated with contempt by liberal, secular parties.
Even so, Ennahda's success has concerned some in what is one of thenba jerseys cheap most modern countries in the Arab world. Some fear the Islamists may push for Islamic law and roll back women's rights, the strongest in the region, and are biding their time before imposing religious rule.
"I feel desperate," said Selma Hajri, an endocrinologist. "The minute the Islamists will be in power, they will never let it go."
But others say Ennahda is one of the most moderate Islamist movements in the Arab world, and has even fielded professional women as candidates.
Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi, who was in exile in Britain for 22 years, NFL Jerseys Cheapsaid the party will "lay the foundations for a solid and sustainable democracy." He has disavowed sharia law and compares his model to that of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
But worries persist.
"There is a real verbal war on Facebook going on right now between secular and non-secular young people," said Tunis-based political science professor and author Hamadi Redissi.
Earlier this month, hundreds of people tried to burn down a TV cheap nfl jerseys station in protest of the airing of a film depicting God in a cartoon. Analysts credit these types of incidents to the hardline Islamist Salafis, who want strict adherence to the Quran and who have emerged publicly since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was deposed Jan. 14.
Tunisians are having a crisis of identity as they transition from authoritarianism to pluralism, says Mahjoub Hakiri, a political analyst in Tunis. In such times religion is often a refuge, he said. Also, of all the parties, Ennahda had the most anti-regime credentials.
http://totalwar.6forum.info/t13-islamist-party-seeks-coalition-in-tunisia
"We were the most persecuted, humiliated and marginalized political party under the old regime," said Ajmi Lourimi, an Ennahda official who was jailed for 17 years.
Regardless of what the Islamists say, they will have to work with the other parties due to a system of proportional representation that makes it impossible for one party to dominate, analysts say.
"As long as the second, third, and fourth parties (voted in) in the election are secular, Ennahda will be countered," Redissi said.
Not likely, many say.
"I know Ennahda, both the leadership and the rank and file very well and wholesale jerseys from china they have truly come a long way," said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. "Of course they are not newborn democrats. But I think they mean it when they say … that they will not impose a Taliban-like regime."
Sunday's vote was Tunisia's first free election for candidates to a 217cheap nhl jerseys-member assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government.
The Ennahda party has reached out to secular parties to form a coalition. Analysts say this type of coalition is unusual in the Arab world where Islamists have been persecuted by regimes and usually treated with contempt by liberal, secular parties.
Even so, Ennahda's success has concerned some in what is one of thenba jerseys cheap most modern countries in the Arab world. Some fear the Islamists may push for Islamic law and roll back women's rights, the strongest in the region, and are biding their time before imposing religious rule.
"I feel desperate," said Selma Hajri, an endocrinologist. "The minute the Islamists will be in power, they will never let it go."
But others say Ennahda is one of the most moderate Islamist movements in the Arab world, and has even fielded professional women as candidates.
Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi, who was in exile in Britain for 22 years, NFL Jerseys Cheapsaid the party will "lay the foundations for a solid and sustainable democracy." He has disavowed sharia law and compares his model to that of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
But worries persist.
"There is a real verbal war on Facebook going on right now between secular and non-secular young people," said Tunis-based political science professor and author Hamadi Redissi.
Earlier this month, hundreds of people tried to burn down a TV cheap nfl jerseys station in protest of the airing of a film depicting God in a cartoon. Analysts credit these types of incidents to the hardline Islamist Salafis, who want strict adherence to the Quran and who have emerged publicly since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was deposed Jan. 14.
Tunisians are having a crisis of identity as they transition from authoritarianism to pluralism, says Mahjoub Hakiri, a political analyst in Tunis. In such times religion is often a refuge, he said. Also, of all the parties, Ennahda had the most anti-regime credentials.
http://totalwar.6forum.info/t13-islamist-party-seeks-coalition-in-tunisia
"We were the most persecuted, humiliated and marginalized political party under the old regime," said Ajmi Lourimi, an Ennahda official who was jailed for 17 years.
Regardless of what the Islamists say, they will have to work with the other parties due to a system of proportional representation that makes it impossible for one party to dominate, analysts say.
"As long as the second, third, and fourth parties (voted in) in the election are secular, Ennahda will be countered," Redissi said.
